Along an assembly line, diapers and various types of other absorbent articles may be assembled by adding components to and otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which, in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: back sheets, topsheet, absorbent cores, front and/or back ears, fastener components, and various types of elastic webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, and waist elastics. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles. The discrete diapers or absorbent articles may also then be folded and packaged.
Various methods and apparatuses may be used for attaching different components to the advancing web. Some of the methods and apparatuses relate to securing waistbands, and more particularly, elastic waistbands to an advancing web. In some processes, elastic waistbands are adhered to an advancing web in a stretched condition. However, some existing methods and apparatuses add cost and complexity to manufacturing processes. For example, the waistband material may be advanced in a first direction, stretched, rotated, and advanced in a second direction before being applied to an advancing web. In addition, in order to join waistbands advancing in the cross direction to a continuous web advancing in the machine direction, some processes may intermittently direct an advancing web toward the advancing waistband, which directs the advancing web away from the machine direction. As a result, the web may be mechanically strained to the point of rupture. In some processes, waistbands may be joined to the advancing web such that the waistbands are spaced apart along the machine direction of the advancing web. The spacing between adjacent waistbands may change from one size absorbent article to another size absorbent article. Such processes are not easily configurable to accommodate changes in the spacing and/or size of the waistbands. As a result, in order to change a process from producing one size absorbent article to producing a different size absorbent article, equipment may need to be altered or replaced, which in turn adds machine and labor costs to the process.
It may be desirable to provide a process for attaching components of absorbent articles advancing in a cross direction to a continuous web of absorbent articles advancing in a machine direction. It may be desirable to provide a process and apparatus for joining components of absorbent articles to advancing webs while minimizing the time the advancing web is directed away from the machine direction. It may also be desirable to provide a process and apparatus adaptable for joining components of absorbent articles of various sizes and spacing to an advancing web.